Wednesday, July 31, 2019

In Changing Circumstances, Muslims Should Change Their Outlook towards Azaan and Friday Prayers


By S. Arshad, New Age Islam
26 July 2019
Since the last one decade, a section of Hindus have raised voice against the Azaan during morning or Azaan called in areas where a sizeable population of Hindus reside. Their grievance is that the call of Azaan disturbs their sleep at dawn or disturbs their peace during the day as the Azaan is called on loudspeakers. Recently, Sonu Nigam had raised his voice on Azaan called on loudspeakers as he said it disturbed his sleep in the morning.
Gradually, voices even from Muslim community have also been raised justifying the grievances of non-Muslims against Azaan and a section of Muslims have started realising the fact that the complaints of non-Muslims against Azaan on loudspeakers are not totally based on religious bias.
 Last month, the President of Khilafat Committee, West Bengal, Shakir Randerian had called Azaan the voice of hate. Though his statement was wrong, he had tried to drive home the point that Azaan on loudspeakers was the cause of differences and confrontation between Hindus and Muslims. His statement raised a controversy and he had to tender a written apology for his statement.
 However, this also started a debate on the justification of Azaan on loudspeakers. Qari Fazlur Rahman of Kolkata said that in the changing circumstances Muslims should change their ways according to the demands of the time. He admitted that very high volume loudspeakers are used for calling Azaans and in many Muslim populations, there are more than one mosque in one area and Azaan from all the mosques at the same time cause reaction from Hindus and other non-Muslim communities.
 Therefore, he had given the suggestion that if there are more than one mosque in an area, Azaan should be called from only one mosque and that too in a low volume so that it does not disturb the peace of mind of the followers of other religions. Unfortunately, this suggestion was not approved or appreciated by Muslims.
Another issue which has become contentious in recent times is the offering of Friday prayers in public places or on roads. Non-Muslims have been objecting to Friday prayers on public places like Maidans or on roads for the last few decades but during the recent months the opposition has become violent. At some places Muslims have been forcibly prevented from offering Friday prayers on roads or Maidans and there were violence also on some places. In these circumstances, Muslims should not insist on offering Friday prayers in public places claiming it their religious right.
Muslims should make alternative arrangements for Friday prayers instead of insisting on offering prayers in public places. They should arrange Friday prayers in their locality mosques. Since the number of people is unaccommodable in most mosques, they should conduct multiple Namaz (two or three Jamats).
This might not be a big problem. It will be a more convenient arrangement than offering Namaz on roads and facing hostility and causing obstacles to general public. New mosques should be made more spatial keeping in view the number of people offering Namaz in the mosque.
S. Arshad is a regular columnist for NewAgeIslam.com
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Extinction is Stalking Humanity: The Threats to Human Survival Accumulate



By Robert J. Burrowes, New Age Islam

27 July 2019

I have previously written a summary of the interrelated psychological, sociological, political-economic, military, nuclear, ecological and climate threats to human survival on Earth which threaten human extinction by 2026. See ‘Human Extinction by 2026? A Last Ditch Strategy to Fight for Human Survival’.

Rather than reiterate the evidence in the above article, I would like to add to it by focusing attention on three additional threats – geo-engineering, medical vaccinations and electromagnetic radiation – that are less well-known (largely because the evidence is officially suppressed and only made available by conscientious investigative activists) and which, either separately or in combination with other threats, significantly increase the prospect of extinction for humans and most (and possibly all) life on Earth by the above date, particularly given the failure to respond strategically to these interrelated threats.

Before doing this, however, let me emphasize, yet again, that it is (unconscious) fear that is driving all of these crises in the first place and fear that underpins our collective failure to strategically address each of these interrelated threats in turn. And, as I have explained elsewhere and reiterate now, if we do not address this fear as a central feature of any overall strategy for survival, then extinction in the near term is certain. See, for example, ‘The Limited Mind: Why Fear is Driving Humanity to Extinction’.

So, beyond the usual issues that are considered imminent threats to human survival – particularly nuclear war, ecological collapse and climate catastrophe based on dysfunctional political, economic, legal and social institutions – let me briefly outline some of these other threats and, once again, invite a strategic response to each and all of these threats so that we give ourselves some chance of surviving.

In the ‘‘Human Extinction by 2026?’ article I cited above, I referred to the use of geoengineering to wage war on Earth’s climate, environment and ultimately ourselves. See, for example, ‘Engineered Climate Cataclysm: Hurricane Harvey’ and ‘The Ultimate Weapon of Mass Destruction: “Owning the Weather” for Military Use’.

But if you are unfamiliar with the evidence of how Earth is being geoengineered for catastrophe, by inflicting enormous damage on the biosphere, try watching this recent interview by Dane Wigington of Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt on the subject. Dr. Klinghardt carefully explains why geoengineering (simply: the high altitude aerial introduction of particulates – especially a synthesized compound of nanonized aluminium and the poison glyphosate in this case – into Earth’s atmosphere to manipulate the climate) creates a ‘supertoxin’ that is generating ‘a crisis of neurological diseases’ and, for example, crosses the blood-brain barrier causing diseases on the Autism spectrum (a spectrum of diseases virtually unknown prior to 1975 and now at epidemic proportions in countries, like the USA, where geoengineering is conducted extensively). See ‘World-Renowned Doctor Addresses Climate Engineering Dangers’.

While careful to distinguish the offending toxic compounds of aluminium and making the point that these adversely impact all lifeforms on the planet, Dr. Klinghardt nevertheless maintains that ‘Aluminium could be isolated as the single factor that is right now creating the mass extinction on the planet including our own’.

Because Dr. Klinghardt cites the corroborating research on glyophosate and aluminium by Dr Stephenie Seneff, Senior Research Scientist at MIT, who investigates ‘the impact of nutritional deficiencies and environmental toxins on human health’, you might like to consult relevant documentation from her research too – see Dr Stephenie Seneff – or watch one of her lectures on the subject. See ‘Autism Explained: Synergistic Poisoning from Aluminum and Glyphosate’.

Given the role of vaccination in precipitating autism, among a great many other disorders, by introducing into the body contaminants such as aluminium and glyphosate as well, you might also like to check out Sayer Ji’s 326 page bibliography with a vast number of references to the literature explaining the exceptional range of shocking dangers from vaccination. See ‘Vaccination’.

Or, if you wish to just read straightforward accounts of the history of vaccine damage and the ongoing dangers, see these articles by Gary G. Kohls MD: ‘A Comprehensive List of Vaccine-Associated Toxic Reactions’ and ‘Identifying the Vaccinology-Illiterate among Us’.

Before proceeding, it is worth mentioning that given his commitment to understanding the causes of, and healing, disorders on the autism spectrum but many others besides, Dr Klinghardt offers treatment protocols for many (now) chronic illnesses, including those on the autism spectrum, on his website: Klinghardt Academy or Institut für Neurobiologie.

But worse than these already horrible impacts, Dr Klinghardt also explains how the nanonized aluminum becomes embedded in our body, including the mitochondria (thus ‘jamming’ the body’s energy production ‘machinery’). More importantly, the metal reacts extremely negatively to electromagnetic radiation (such as wifi, which will get enormously worse as 5G is progressively introduced) and this destroys the mitochondria in the DNA very rapidly thus spelling ‘the end of higher evolution in the next six to eight years’. Why so soon? Dr Klinghardt carefully explains the exponential nature, a poorly understood concept, of what is taking place. See ‘World-Renowned Doctor Addresses Climate Engineering Dangers’.

Moreover, he explains, because geoengineering is not confined to what is sprayed over land masses but includes what is sprayed over the ocean as well, the world’s oceans effectively have a layer of micro-plastic and metal covering their surfaces creating the effect of confining the Earth’s oceans in a gigantic sealed plastic bag. As Dr Klinghardt explains: This has reduced the water content of the atmosphere by 40% in the past two decades, causing droughts and desertification throughout Europe and the Middle East, for example, and substantially reduced the capacity of algae in the ocean to produce oxygen.

Having mentioned 5G above, if you are not aware of the monumental hazards of this technology, which is already being introduced without informed public consultation, the following articles and videos will give you a solid understanding of key issues from the viewpoint of human and planetary well-being. See ‘5G Technology is Coming – Linked to Cancer, Heart Disease, Diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and Death’, ‘20,000 Satellites for 5G to be Launched Sending Focused Beams of Intense Microwave Radiation Over Entire Earth’, ‘Will 5G Cell Phone Technology Lead To Dramatic Population Reduction As Large Numbers Of Men Become Sterile?’, ‘The 5G Revolution: Millions of “Human Guinea Pigs” in Big Telecom’s Global Experiment’ and ‘5G Apocalypse – The Extinction Event’.

In essence then, there is enormous evidence that geoengineering, vaccinations and 5G technology pose a monumental (and, in key ways, interrelated) threat to human and planetary health and threaten near term extinction for humans and a vast number of other species. Of course, as mentioned above, these are not the only paths to extinction that we face.

How have these threats come about? Essentially because the insane global elite, over the past thousand years, has progressively secured control over world affairs in order to maximize its privilege, profit and power, at any cost to the Earth and its populations (and now, ultimately, even its own members), successfully co-opting all major political, economic, corporate, legal and social institutions and those who work in these institutions – see ‘The Global Elite is Insane Revisited’ – while the bulk of the human population has been terrorized and disempowered to such as extent that our resistance has been tokenistic and misdirected (almost invariably at governments). See, for example, ‘Why Activists Fail’.

And this is why, even now, as humanity stands at the brink of extinction, most people’s unconscious fear will prevent them from seeking out or considering the type of evidence offered in this article or,  if they do read it, to dismiss it from their mind. That is how unconscious fear works: it eliminates unpalatable truths from awareness.

Fear and Extinction

So here we stand. We are on the brink of human extinction (with 200 species of life on Earth being driven to extinction daily) and most humans utterly oblivious to (or in denial of) the desperate nature and timeframe of our plight.

Why? Because the first three capacities that fear shuts down are awareness (of what is happening around us), faculties such as conscience and feelings (particularly the anger that gives us the courage to act) and intelligence (to analyze and strategize our response). Which is why I go to some pains to emphasize that our unconscious fear is the primary driver of our accelerating rush to extinction and I encourage you to seriously consider incorporating strategies to address this fear into any effort you make to defend ourselves from extinction.

‘But I am not afraid’ you (or someone else) might say. Aren’t you? Your unconscious mind has had years to learn the tricks it needed when you were a child to survive the onslaught of the violent parenting and schooling you suffered – see ‘Why Violence?’,‘Fearless Psychology and Fearful Psychology: Principles and Practice’and ‘Do We Want School or Education?’ – among the many other possibilities of violence, including those of a structural nature, that you will have also suffered.

But your mind only learned these ‘tricks’ – such as the trick of hiding your fear behind chronic overconsumption: see ‘Love Denied: The Psychology of Materialism, Violence and War’ – at great cost to your functionality and it now diverts the attention from reality of most people so effectively that they cannot even pay attention to the obvious and imminent threats to human survival, such as the threats of nuclear war, ecological collapse and climate catastrophe, let alone the many other issues including the more ‘obscure’ ones (if your attention has been successfully diverted) I touched on above.

The reality is that fear induces most people to live in delusion and to believe such garbage as ‘The Earth is bountiful’ (and can sustain endless economic growth) or that the ‘end of century’ is our timeframe for survival. But the fear works in a great many ways, only a few of which I have touched on in ‘The Limited Mind: Why Fear is Driving Humanity to Extinction’, for example.

Defending Ourselves from Extinction

So how do we defend ourselves from extinction, particularly when there is an insane global elite endlessly impeding our efforts to do so?

For most people, this will include starting with yourself. See ‘Putting Feelings First’.

For virtually all adults, it will include reviewing your relationship with children and, ideally, making ‘My Promise to Children’. Critically, this will include learning the skill of nisteling. See ‘Nisteling: The Art of Deep Listening’.

For those who feel courageous enough, consider campaigning strategically to achieve the outcomes we need, whether it is to end violence against children or end war (and the threat of nuclear war), halt geoengineering, stop the destruction of Earth’s climate, stop the deployment of 5G or end the destruction of Earth’s rainforests. See Nonviolent Campaign Strategy or Nonviolent Defense/Liberation Strategy. A lot of people doing a bit here and there, or lobbying governments, is not going to get us out of this mess.

The global elite is deeply entrenched – fighting its wars, upgrading its nuclear arsenal, exploiting people, geoengineering the destruction of the biosphere, destroying the climate, invading/occupying resource-rich countries – and not about to give way without a concerted effort by many of us campaigning strategically on several key fronts. So strategy is imperative if we are to successfully deal with all of the issues that confront us in the time we have left.

If you recognize the pervasiveness of the fear-driven violence in our world, consider joining the global network of people resisting it by signing the online pledge of ‘The People’s Charter to Create a Nonviolent World’.

But if you do nothing else while understanding the simple point that Earth’s biosphere cannot sustain a human population of this magnitude of whom more than half endlessly over-consume, then consider accelerated participation in the strategy outlined in ‘The Flame Tree Project to Save Life on Earth’.

Or, if this feels too complicated, consider committing to:

The Earth Pledge

Out of love for the Earth and all of its creatures, and my respect for their needs, from this day onwards I pledge that:

1. I will listen deeply to children (see explanation above)
2. I will not travel by plane
3. I will not travel by car
4. I will not eat meat and fish
5. I will only eat organically/biodynamically grown food
6. I will minimize the amount of fresh water I use, including by minimizing my ownership and use of electronic devices
7. I will not buy rainforest timber
8. I will not buy or use single-use plastic, such as bags, bottles, containers, cups and straws
9. I will not use banks, superannuation (pension) funds or insurance companies that provide any service to corporations involved in fossil fuels, nuclear power and/or weapons
10. I will not accept employment from, or invest in, any organization that supports or participates in the exploitation of fellow human beings or profits from killing and/or destruction of the biosphere
11. I will not get news from the corporate media (mainstream newspapers, television, radio, Google, Facebook, Twitter…)
12. I will make the effort to learn a skill, such as food gardening or sewing, that makes me more self-reliant
13. I will gently encourage my family and friends to consider signing this pledge.

Sometime in the next few years, the overwhelming evidence is that homo sapiens will join other species that only exist as part of the fossil record.

Therefore, you have two vital choices to make: Will you fight for survival? And will you do it strategically?

If you do not make both choices consciously, your unconscious fear will make them for you.

Robert J. Burrowes has a lifetime commitment to understanding and ending human violence. He has done extensive research since 1966 in an effort to understand why human beings are violent and has been a nonviolent activist since 1981. He is the author of ‘Why Violence?’ His email address is flametree@riseup.net and his website is here.


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The Psychology behind the Obsession of Pakistani Intellectuals with the Hadith about Ghazwatul Hind


By S. Arshad, New Age Islam
27 July 2019
In recent years, the hadith about Ghazwatul Hind has been in discussion among the Islamists and intellectuals of Pakistan. Newspapers and TV channels regularly discuss the hadith explaining the meaning of the hadith and its authenticity. According to the hadith reported by Abu Huraira, towards the end of the world, an army of mujahideen will attack India and defeat its king and drag him in chains to Jerusalem where they will meet Hadhrat Isa a.s. This hadith is very popular in Pakistan though surprisingly, Indian Muslims do not give any special importance to this hadith.
One intellectual and political analyst of Pakistan who is more obsessed with this hadith than others is the conspiracy theorist, Oriya Maqbool Jan. Though a section of Islamic scholars consider this hadith to be weak and some even think it is one of the thousands of fabricated hadiths, Oriya Maqbool Jan has the firm belief that the hadith reported by Abu Hurairah is authentic because Imam Hajar Asqalani has quoted it in his book. Not only that, Oriya Maqbool Jan also believes that the time of the victory of the mujahideen over India has come and In a YouTube video he says that after Narendra Modi came to power, the situation of India is clear indication that the time for Ghazwatul Hind has come. However, Oriya Maqbool Jan has not specified the situation in India which strengthens his belief. But he says that like the Rohingya Muslims who do not have any citizenship rights and political or geographical identity, ’25 crore’ Indian Muslims will also meet the same fate in India and the situation will lead to Ghazwatul Hind which will lead to the defeat of India’s king (Narendra Modi) and he will be dragged in chains and will be taken to Jerusalem.
One important point that he loves to ignore that even if the hadith is authentic, it speaks about a war that will be fought against  India and during the prophet’s time, India comprised the whole region including Sindh, Afghanistan, Burma and Sri Lanka. Oriya Maqbool Jan though admits that during the rule of Ashoka, Aurangzeb and the British Empire, India included all these regions. Still later he contradicts his own position saying that the region which is called Pakistan today was never a part of India. He says that the Sind Civilisation was a part of the Civilisation of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro and was distinct from the Indian Civilisation.
Why does he say so? Actually he wants people to believe that it will be Pakistan that will be on the vanguard of the Ghazwatul Hind and will lead the mujahideen from Khurasan against the King of India and will defeat it. That’s why he presents the theory that when the hadith speaks of Ghazwatul Hind, it means the India of 21st century ruled by a ‘King’ named Narendra Modi. Oriya Maqbool Jan categorically says that the ‘Daur-e-Fitan’ in ‘Akhiruzzaman’ mentioned in the hadith is the reign of King Narendra Modi and the Ghazwa may happen any time during his ongoing five year term.
Mr Maqbool Jan, in order to prove his point, likens the state of Indian Muslims to the state of Rohingya Muslims though he himself admits that the population of Rohingya Muslims in Burma is about 12 lakhs and the population of Indian Muslims is 25 crore (according to his own statistics). He does not elaborate on the point as to how the fate of a people of 12 lakh and a people of 25 crore can be similar? He does not also give details how the condition of Muslims of India in 2019 July is different from their condition in April 2019 and what are the disastrous circumstances of Indian Muslims which have made him believe that Ghazwatul Hind is in the offing.
Although he says that Ghazwatul Hind is in the offing, he does not give the details of any army of mujahideen ready to attack India. If we consider the political situation in the region, the region which is called Khorasan, (Afghanistan, China, Russia), Oriya Maqbool Jan’s ‘mujahideen’ the Taliban are not in a position to capture even Afghanistan for the last ten 12 years. China is ruled by Communists and they are forcing the Muslims there to renounce their religion, leave aside their turning into an army of mujahideen. Russia is also not an Islamic country. The Pakistan army is also at loggerheads with Taliban and in recent months, Pakistani army has received drubbing from Indian army. So where are the mujahideen who according to Oriya Maqbool Jan are ready to attack India carrying black flags.
Islamic scholar and eschatologist Shaikh Imran Hossain has rightly criticized the so-called Islamists of Pakistan on the issue of Ghazwatul Hind. He says that the hadith is fabricated. He says those who believe that Pakistani army will defeat India according to the hadith of Ghazwatul Hind, should first acknowledge the fact that the Pakistani army is with the European countries carrying the so-called war on terror against Muslim countries. Does the Pakistani army call itself Mujahideen, he asks. He says that the hadith mentions a King of India while the age of kings has long gone in India. He calls this belief of the Pakistani intellectuals a non-sense.
In fact, the Pakistani obsession with the hadith about Ghazwatul Hind stems from their deep sense of humiliation at their defeat against India in the last four wars. They also have not come to terms with the fact that they lost Bangladesh which they believe was the result of Indian conspiracy against Pakistan. They have been fuelling and funding rebellion and terrorism in Kashmir to avenge Bangladesh defeat and partition of Pakistan. And the growing military and political might of India has strengthened their belief that Pakistan cannot defeat India.
Therefore, in their desperation and frustration, they are looking for a miracle that will destroy India. This is the reason; they have taken refuge in the hadith which is generally said to be a weak hadith. This hadith provides them the consolation that very soon some army of mujahideen will appear from the heavens and destroy India, and that Pakistan will be in the vanguard of the army of the mujahideen. Though Mr Jan seems to be concerned about the Indian Muslims, the truth is that he is only concerned about defeat of India by Pakistan and this hadith provides him some hope. If he had been really concerned about the fate of Muslims, he should be debating the plight of Uyghur Muslims who are being forced to renounce their religious rights and their children are being separated from them so that they will not know their own religion when grown up and will be communists.
When Islamists of Pakistan debate the hadith about Ghazwatul Hind, they love to ignore the hadith in which the holy prophet pbuh said that he got the fragrance of heaven from India. And this hadith is not contested from any scholar of Islam.  They ignore this hadith because this does not fulfil their aspirations against India.
The so called Islamic scholars of Pakistan should come out of their shell and look at the world from a realistic point of view. They should first work towards the education of the illiterate Muslims of Pakistan. They should work towards providing better medical facilities to the poor people of Pakistan who go to the quacks and peers only to be exploited.  A peer of Pakistan raped 700 childless women promising them with children. In the absence of hospitals and medical facilities, people in the semi urban and rural areas go to mazars where they are exploited. Terrorism is a big problem there in which innocent Muslims and non-Muslims are killed by jihadi organizations. Recently, the Prime Minister of Pakistan admitted that 40 terrorist organisations were active in Pakistan. People like Oriya Maqbool Jan should launch movements against illiteracy, terrorism, sectarian hatred and corruption first and stop blaming India for evils plaguing their country.
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S. Arshad is a regular columnist for NewAgeIslam.com
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Saturday, July 20, 2019

Editor Sultan Shahin Urges UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to Consider Jihadi Literature and Intolerance of Minorities in Muslim Countries Too As Defamation of Islam



By Sultan Shahin, Founder-Editor, New Age Islam
8 July 2019
Oral Statement at 41st  Session of UN Human Rights Council, Geneva,  delivered on 8 July 2019
By Sultan Shahin, Founder-Editor, New Age Islam 
On behalf of Asian-Eurasian Human Rights Forum
General Debate, Agenda item 8, Follow-up and Implementation of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action

Mr. President,
The Vienna Declaration recognizes that “every individual has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, expression and religion.” The U.N. Human Rights Council passed a resolution, proposed by Pakistan on behalf of Islamic states, last March, condemning “defamation of religion” as a human rights violation. Speaking for the 56-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Pakistan said that “Islam is frequently and wrongly associated with human rights violations and terrorism.” It called on states “to deny impunity” for those exhibiting intolerance of ethnic and religious minorities, and “to take all possible measures to promote tolerance and respect for all religions and beliefs.”
However, Mr. President, news reports often emanate from Islamic countries, particularly Pakistan, of intolerance of and disrespect for minority religious beliefs. We also see free publication and distribution of Jihadi literature associating Islam with and indeed promoting human rights violations and extremist violence. Even school and madrasa text books are not free from extremist and exclusivist teachings, asking Muslims to stay away from religious and cultural celebrations of other religious communities. Pakistan’s notorious anti-blasphemy laws ensure that members of religious minorities are either lynched by mobs or awarded death sentences on mere accusations of blasphemy. The case of a Christian lady Aasia Bibi, mercifully out of the country now, has brought this issue to world’s attention. Ahmadiya Muslims are officially excluded from Islam and even debarred from claiming to be Muslim in any way. Like non-Muslim minorities, they too suffer indignities of various kinds in their daily life. Hundreds of young Hindu girls are routinely abducted and forcibly converted to Islam and raped in the name of marriage.
While this resolution seeks to protect Islam from defamation through any association with terrorism, the religion is routinely defamed in Muslim countries by publication of literature justifying violence against non-Muslim civilians. The very title of a long essay in the Taliban mouthpiece Nawa-e-Afghan Jihad was: ‘Circumstances in which the killing of innocent people among infidels is justified.’
I would, therefore, urge the Council to ask the Muslim countries to treat intolerance of minorities and Jihadi literature too as defaming the religion of Islam.
But it’s important to look at the issue in some detail.
In the essay referred to above, a Taliban scholar Sheikh Yousuf Al-Abeeri justifies the 9/11 attacks on American people and institutions by saying things that would definitely amount to defaming Islam which the OIC is now seeking to ban. Al-Abeeri says that Islam supports indiscriminate killing of Innocent civilians under special circumstances. He talks of the Islamic permissibility of “brutal and mass killing of the enemy.”  Starting from the “lawfulness of burning the enemy” and “opening the dams of rivers and lakes” to drown the inmates of a fort or besieged town, launching mortar attack, the fatwa goes on to justify “releasing snakes and scorpions on the enemy even if non-combatant women and children are also present.” Then it argues, “the lawfulness of these measures including ‘demolishing their buildings, spreading poison and smoke,” if it is not possible to capture or dominate them without resorting to these practices”. Having thus “established” the justification of a terror attack against civilians, the Taliban scholar then goes on to justify the destruction of American cities and questions the “sanity of any Muslim who declares killing the Americans in New York and Washington as unlawful.”
These arguments are made quoting several reputed medieval jurists of the stature of Imam Nawawi, Allama Ibn Qudāmah al-Maqdīsī, Imām al-Bayhaqi and Al-Sahihain. (Al-Sahihain refers to Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih al-Muslim, the two books of Ahadith, considered the most authentic sources of Islamic faith after the holy Qur'an).
 Taliban scholar Al-Abeeri concludes: “Therefore, given the arguments from Shariah, it can be said that whoever said that killing the Americans in New York and Washington is unlawful actually shoots in the dark. He is saying this in ignorance. Killing the enemy by burning or drowning, destroying or damaging buildings to capture them or terrifying the enemy are the points on which the majority of scholars of Islam agree. This practice was followed by the holy companions of the Prophet. How can then someone who is blind in the love of the Americans question something which is authenticated by the Quran and the Hadith.”  (Nawa-e-Afghan Jihad, January 2013)
Taliban’s tirade against Islam continues in its mouthpiece Nawa-e-Afghan Jihad month after month. The essay referred to above had appeared in parts for eight months in 2013. In the latest issue the Taliban mouthpiece (March 2019), has published an article by Taliban scholar Sameer Khan Shaheed titled “Markazi Nukta (Central Point) which says: “In Saudi Arabia's view, Jihad against the Soviet Union was purely Islamic. When the same Jihad is waged against America, it is wrong in their eyes. We announce disassociation from those who consider Jihad a means to please America. As a matter of fact, Jihad will remain Farz-e-Ain (compulsory act for all individual Muslims in all conditions) unless the United States and its apostate allies leave the Islamic land. And in addition to the apostates of the land, those tawaghoot (oppressors) are also included in its allies, who are engaged in making the rich richer, and the poor poorer, and also those who aggressively oppose Muslims who are seeking to establish the system of Tauheed (Oneness of God) and change the rules set by Allah according to their own wishes” (Nawa e Afghan Jihad, March 2019, p.66)
Later in the article, Sameer Khan quotes Abdullah Azzam, considered the ideological mentor of Osama bin Laden as saying, “During my stay in Afghanistan, I realized that Tauheed could not enter into the human spirit peacefully, nor can it become as strong and powerful as in the field of Jihad. I mean to say that the work of Tauheed is done by means of sword, and not by reading books and gaining knowledge related to aqaid(creeds)” (Nawa e Afghan Jihad, March 2019, Markazi Nukta by Sameer Khan, p.61)
In another Jihadi publication widely distributed in Pakistan, Masood Azhar, the leader of terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed, recently listed as terrorist by the UN, writes, in his book “The Virtues of Jihad," “Fellow Muslims! We cannot appeal to the unbelievers to assist us; we have to understand that the annihilation of Muslims is their main purpose and mission; they are overjoyed upon seeing the free flow of Muslim blood. The real sorrow is that there is no value of a Muslim life in another Muslim’s sight. The oppressed Muslims are looked upon by other Muslims with hatred and insignificance. When we have reached this stage of indifference, then why should we expect the Muslim blood to be of any worth? It can be said that the value of this blood is even less than water. The Muslims have generally looked upon the persecution and oppression of their neighbouring Muslim communities with the view that it did not affect them and that their fate was safe. They have witnessed the torture and murder of countless innocent civilians and remained unaffected by the humiliation which their mothers and sisters were continually subjected to. The Muslim spectator of this carnage feared even to offer verbal support in case he would offend his masters and risk his worldly status.
“The Muslims should urgently rectify their situation and they should put the fire out before it reaches their homes and accept the Muslim’s issues as their very own and try to feel their pain. We should never make mockery of the oppressed but instead should fight shoulder to shoulder against unbelievers avenging the death of each and every Muslim” (Masood Azhar, The Virtues of Jihad, p. 132-133)
In a book in Urdu titled “Yahud ki Chalees Beemariyan” (Forty Diseases of Jews, available in pdf on alqalamonline.com.), Masood Azhar thoroughly demonises the Jewish community whose scriptures Muslims have been asked by Quran to believe in as God’s own commandments (Quran 4:162-163, and several other verses), and many of whose prophets have been referred to in Quran by name as prophets sent by God. Speaking of the significance of this book, another Jihadi scholar Abu Lubaba writes in its Introduction, “The way the Quran condemns the Jews and the Prophet has advised the believers to avoid their evil attitudes, and the way the books of Prophet’s biography (seerat) mentions hatred of Jews towards Islam and our dear prophet Muhammad Mustafa (peace be upon him); having studied all this, Muslims should have abstained from the practices of this ‘condemned and hateful nation.’ Despite the Jews being complete Fitna (mischief), Dajjal (Devil) and deceitful, Muslims are associated with them. Muslims have started believing their practices to be good and worth imitating. Having neglected the blessed ways of the Prophet, they have adopted their (Jews’) filthy and nonsensical customs and profiles,” (“Masood Azhar, Yahud Ki Chalees Bimariyan (Forty Diseases of Jews), Introduction by Abu Lubabah)
In a bid to promote exclusivism among Muslims, religious schools and seminaries around the world quote the following fatwa of revered 13th—-14th century scholar Ibn-e-Taimiya, which was also quoted recently by ISIS publication ‘Rumiya’ in its 6th issue:
“The Ruling of Those Who Celebrate Mushrik (polytheistic) Festivities
“Ibn Taymiyyah was asked about a Muslim who prepares food like the Christians do for New Year’s, or other times like the Feast of the Baptism, Christmas, Lentil Thursday (“Holy Thursday”), or the Sabbath of Light (“Holy Saturday”), and about one who sells something to them for their celebrations -- is it permissible for Muslims to do so or not?
“He answered, saying, “All praise is due to Allah. Regarding their celebrations, it is not permissible for Muslims to resemble them (Christians and Jews) in anything: not in their food, their clothing, their bathing, their lighting of candles, the abandoning of one’s work or worship, or otherwise. It not permissible to prepare a meal or give gifts, nor to sell that which assists them in doing any of that, nor to allow children or others to play games specific to these celebrations, nor to dress up [for them]. Overall, Muslims must not give special consideration to [kafir] celebrations at all. Rather, those days of festivity should be – to the Muslims – just like any other day.
“A Muslim’s intentionally giving consideration to one of these days [by doing something special without actually intending to celebrate the occasion itself] was disliked by groups of the Salaf(early Islam) and the Khalaf (later Islam). As for his specifically doing anything of what was mentioned above [in celebration of the occasion], then there is no dispute about it amongst the scholars. Rather, some scholars opine that whoever does such things has committed kufr (act of unbelief), since doing so involves holding the religious activities of kufr in esteem. Others have said that whoever slaughters a ram on a day of their celebrations, it is as if he slaughtered a pig.” (ISIS’s magazine, Rumiyah, 6th issue, p.16)
But while the Jihadis are free in Pakistan to demonise Islam and Prophet Mohammad (pbuh), by saying the kind of things quoted above, the regular journalists are not free to express dissent of any kind. As Opposition leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on the International Press Freedom Day this year, "There is an undeclared censorship in Pakistan. The space for democratic rights has dangerously shrunk, the media and the right to freedom of expression are under siege. Journalists are under attack both from state and non-state actors. Of the 26 journalists murdered between 2013 and 2018, only 16 cases proceeded to court, trials were only completed in six cases and only one conviction was awarded by a lower court. But none were punished as the sole conviction was also overturned.” Even the brutal lynching and murder of a 23-year-old journalism student, Mashal Khan, has not brought the slightest change in Pakistan’s attitude towards its harsh blasphemy laws.
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Caliphate Ideology vs. Secular State: The Untenable Statement of Ayman Al-Zawahiri, And the Irrefutable Declaration of Al-Azhar Grand Shaikh Ahmad Al-Tayyib





New Age Islam Special Correspondent
20 July 2019
In his latest video message titled "Don't forget Kashmir", a techno-Wahhabi ideologue and Al Qaeda’s leader, Ayman Al-Zawahiri says: “Kashmir is a bleeding wound in our hearts. Hearts that grieve with the pain of many such bleeding wounds”… “It is a tragedy made even direr by the fact that they are caught between Hindu brutality on the one hand and the treachery and conspiracies of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies on the other”.
Zawahiri urges the 'Mujahideen' to “liberate the Kashmiri jihad from the clutches of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies,” as the jihad is wholly and solely “for the sake of Allah” as opposed to a struggle “for the sake of international criminals.” He goes on to say: "the Mujahideen in Kashmir—at this stage at least—should single-mindedly focus on inflicting unrelenting blows on the Indian Army and government, so as to bleed the Indian economy and make India suffer sustained losses in manpower and equipment.”
An identical jihadist rendition of ‘caliphate ideology vs. secular state’ by Ayman al-Zawahiri was replicated in the war cry of Ansar Ghazwatul Hind leader, Zakir Rashid Bhat Moosa. The first statement by Moosa that appeared in several Kashmiri media outlets contained this text of his speech:
“If we are fighting for secular state, then, I think, we cannot be martyrs. I know we have to first fight for freedom and push out Indian army which has occupied us. But, our intention should be that we have to achieve ‘Azadi’ to establish Islamic rule and not for secular state. If we are fighting for secular state then my blood won’t be spilled for that purpose.”
Now contrast the above pan-Islamist argument of Zakir with Zawahiri’s newly-released statements focused exclusively on Jammu & Kashmir. Al-Qaida's global chief calls for the jihad in Kashmir wholly and solely for “establishing Caliphate” and therefore he opined that the valley needed to be freed from the clutches of Pakistan's ISI and army as well as the Indian state. “Break all borders created by Britain in India”, and “unite under the credo of the one God”, Zawahiri said in a video released in September 2014, titled “a message that we did not forget you, our Muslim brothers in India”.
Zawahiri highlighted several irreconcilable conflicts between the Islamic principles of Sharia and the premises of secular state quoting from both Qur’an and Hadith and distorting the actual meanings of their texts and other analogies. Thus, he tried to justify his untenable positions in such a crafty theological manner that, to the theologically untrained Muslim youths, he offered a justification for the Khuruj (rebellion) and Hijrah (Islamic migration) against the non-Muslim countries like India to establish an Islamic caliphate.
In different territories, it was, by and large, the same tone and tenor that was reflected in the jihadist clarion calls made by the young slain militant in South Kashmir, Zakir Musa, who was emerged as a militant commander of Hizbul Mujahideen and ended up as chief of Ansar Ghazwatul Hind. In his video speech released in May 2017, he addressed the separatist leaders in Kashmir in these unequivocal and categorical words:
“What I said about hanging was not about All Parties Hurriyat Conference leaders but moderates who say after Azadi [freedom] we will establish a secular state. Because I know if we get freedom from India then we will have to fight those who support secular state.....I am hopeful Allah is with me, even if no one supports me. Rest, I stand on my statement. If the intention of Geelani and others is freedom for Islam and imposition of Shariah after freedom, then I am not against them......I have already said that we are fighting for ‘Azadi Baraye Islam’ [freedom for the sake of Islam]. My blood will spill for Islam and not for secular state.”
In another audio clip, Zakir Musa pitched the democratic principles of governance against the basic tenets of Islam and urged the Indian Muslims to boycott the elections and “be wary of the Congress and BJP, the Samajwadi Party and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Trinamul Congress or Bahujan Samaj Party, for all are only faces of tyranny”.
Pitching democracy and territorial nationality against the Islamic principles of governance is the key political Islamist narrative being flagged off by the jihadist ideologues—from Zawahiri to Zakir. But contrary to this jihadist underpinning, there is substantial evidence in the Quran and Sunnah (the Prophetic traditions) to make it possible for us to adopt both democracy and territorial nationality as compatible to Islamic principles. It is sufficient to quote these two verses of the Qur’an:
“Those who respond to their Lord and attend to their prayers; who conduct their affairs by mutual consultation and spend out of what We have provided for them” (42:38)
“So by mercy of Allah, [O Prophet], you were lenient with them. And if you had been rude [in speech] and harsh in heart, they would have disbanded from about you. So pardon them and ask forgiveness for them and consult them in the matter. And when you have decided, then rely upon Allah. Indeed, Allah loves those who rely upon Him. (3:159)”
These Qur'anic verses clearly exhort the Islamic principle of Shur’a (consultation) in dealing with the community affairs. In a secular democracy today, mutual consultation is a self-evident proposition. Based on this, even Muslim communities the world over are now inserting the Islamic Sharia rulings, courts and tribunals into the secular legal system and common law. Today, legal decisions based on cultural values at odds with democratic principles are accepted and incorporated into the laws of democratic countries which strengthen the religious freedom.
Significantly, in 2011, the world’s largest Sunni Islamic seminary, Al-Azhar Sharif issued an 11-clause declaration titled “document around the future of Egypt” which was read out on national television by the Al-Azhar Grand Shaikh Ahmad al-Tayyibb himself. The prominent Islamic jurists who participated in the drafting of the al-Azhar document explored the possibility of declaring a “secular” state as compatible to Islamic Shariah. After serious deliberations, the Al-Azhar ended up describing the future ideal state as “national” (al-Waaniyyah), “constitutional” (al-Dusturiyyah), “democratic” (al-Dimuqraiyyah) and “modern” (al-Haditha).
Thus, this declaration of the leading Al-Azhar Islamic scholars demanded the establishment of “a national, constitutional, democratic and modern state, founded on a constitution approved by the nation”. It also sought “the separation of powers, guarantees for human rights, the power to legislate given to the elected representatives of the people in accordance with the correct Islamic understanding.”
The Al-Azhar declaration premised that the principle of governance according to Shariah is merely defined by the convergence between the principles operating in governance and in the Islamic tradition. It clearly stated that there is no “religious state” in Islam, be it in its history, its legislation, or in its civilization. Islam has left to people “the administration of their society and the choice of the tools and of the institutions that realize their interests, with the condition that the comprehensive principles of the Islamic Shariah be the main source of legislation, and as long as those who follow other revealed religions may refer to their own religious principles (Shari’ah Diniyyah) to deal with their affairs of personal status.”
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